Running Hot
by ScribeOfRemedy
Summary: Axel wakes up not feeling too hot. Good thing he's got friends who'll look after him whether he likes it or not.


**NOTES:** A couple of months ago I was under the weather. Shortly afterwards I was subjected to the feels fest that is Kingdom Hearts 3, so my coping mechanism has become subjecting Axel to my mini-cold. :D

This fic is a little bit of an AU as I don't believe a time existed where all the Organization XIII members were alive and well after Axel, Roxas and Xion became close. There is also a brief glossary included in the end notes for those who might not have played 385/2 Days.

Lastly, I want to give a quick shout out to ScribeOfReaper for all the encouragement, advice and punoffs involved in the writing of this fic, and to ScribeOfRED for kindly answering all my grammar queries. I _Axelly_ couldn't have done it without you guys.

* * *

There are no stars in the World That Never Was.

You can't look out into the icky abyss coiling around the boundaries of betwixt and between and find the evidence of distant worlds winking back at you. Dark smog saturates the air, isolating this castaway place from the rest of the cosmos like the fading remnants of a bad dream—cutoff and discarded.

It honestly makes for a pretty sorry sight.

Unlike the picturesque sunsets of the nearest world the scenery here isn't much to write home about. There's not even a sun to rise and fall in the in between, the only _natural_ source of light coming from the constant glow given off by the heart shaped moon in the sky. The empty city below is all but a ghost town haunted by roaming heartless and the whispered sentiment of fears bled over from memory. Still, the glitter of street lights reflecting off droplets of coalescing moisture on the grey area windows adds a splash of vibrancy to this otherwise monochromatic existence.

The smattering of color does little to disguise the morning's dreary state. A persistent drizzle drums against the castle's narrow spires, spilling down to wash over the grey skyscrapers and breathing an unpleasant chill into the ivory halls. Axel can't help an involuntary shiver.

The motion jars him from his observations and he has to wonder how he wound up on such an uncharacteristic spiral in the first place. After all, it's not every day he crawls out of bed bright and early only to stop and critique the majority of the castle's complete lack of a decent view.

But then again, most days he doesn't have to fight for full breath.

Axel gives out an exasperated huff, no longer able to pretend it's even remotely possible to breathe through his nose at the moment and expecting it won't be long before one of the others draws attention to his mouth breathing. Maybe if he's quiet about it nobody will notice. _Right._

He glances out past the condensation sliding down the tall panes of glass into the black void just beyond the desolate city. Hot neons and blank screens flicker and hiss in the light deluge. Just another gloomy day in paradise, or at least as far as Axel is able to tell through the dulling fog that's settled over his senses.

"Hey, Axel, get a move on. Don't wanna be late for another one of the Superior's rousing little speeches, now do ya?" Xigbar calls from the hall.

Now if only said dulling effect extended to his hearing he'd be in pretty good shape. But it's useless to try and ignore Xemnas' summons, made all the more troublesome by the horrendous timing along with whatever's decided to crawl up his sinuses. So instead, Axel privately contemplates introducing the face of the guy responsible for mornings to one of the many pointy ends of his chakrams—then at least maybe someone else will be having about as much fun as he is trying to get air right now.

Congestion, he decides, is a real drag—not severe enough of an ailment to justify snoozing the day away but just enough of an annoyance to be more than slightly distracting.

He's not even in any kind of pain, at least not beyond the mild throbbing that's taken up residence just behind his sinuses. Honestly, he's more surprised than anything by the sheer amount of mucus his body is apparently able to produce. It's strange, how it all doesn't all make his head feel weighed down. If anything he's feeling a little lightheaded, like his brain is melting down and draining out his nose. It's exhausting in a way he doesn't think lying around in bed will remedy.

But even so, this isn't anything he can't power through—not that Saïx would give him the day to recover regardless. He just needs to figure out how to carry around an entire box of tissues inconspicuously.

Sometimes mornings seriously aren't worth the effort.

* * *

When he finally shuffles into the round room with the other stragglers Roxas and Xion are both already present and greet him with enthusiastic waves. Axel spares the energy for a friendly smile back at the two of them before promptly tuning out the rest of the room.

Xemnas' sporadic, little pep talks are a test in patience on the best of days; at present, Axel figures he'll be lucky to catch a third of what the enigmatic man has to say. Maybe that should be more worrying, especially with two newbies practically depending on him to explain half of what goes on in this zany nuthouse, but Axel can't seem to dredge up the proper sense of anxiety—not that he has the heart to put into it. Besides, today he thinks he's earned the right to be a little slack. So by the time Xemnas kicks things off with a truly enrapturing update on the rules—or rather guidelines some might say—for use of the communal fridge, Axel is thoroughly zoned out. At first he focuses on his breathing, doing his best to keep each breath even and as silent as possible, but eventually his attention wanders. He ends up tracing the symmetrical patterns lining the chairs across from him with his eyes, barley aware of the topic shifting over to the tired reminder of their goal to complete Kingdom Hearts. _Pitiful hearts, hate and sorrow, rage of the keyblade_—_blah blah blah..._

He gets so lost in thought, in fact, that he inadvertently tries to breathe through his nose again, but his sniffer is almost entirely clogged and little to no air gets through. A surprised little gasp slips out before he can catch himself. This tiny gasp unfortunately ignites an entire choking fit and he ends up cutting off the whole display with a loud, obnoxious sniffle. By the time he's got himself back under control there's a lull in the discussion, at which point Axel realizes everyone's staring his direction. Whoops.

"What?" Embarrassingly, his voice comes out rough and nasally.

This, of course, does not go unnoticed. Larxene immediately screws her face up in a well-practiced expression of disdain. "Ugh, are you sick or something? Keep your gross germs away from me."

Marluxia covers his mouth with the hand not occupied with one of the dainty roses he perpetually seems to have on hand—like the action will somehow protect him from contagious pathogens. "Oh my, perhaps we should place him in quarantine or something."

"Hardy har, it's barley a cold, ya pansies." If Axel was really sick he'd make sure to cough and sneeze exclusively in their direction. Actually, he might do that anyway just for the laughs.

The other members start to murmur.

"You don't suppose... another epidemic." Zexion creases his brow in thought, clearly recalling the incident not too long ago when half the organization fell to a nasty cold.

Xaldin frowns in distaste. "I do hope we'll not have to suffer another such out break."

The only member showing anything close to enthusiasm at the prospect is, of course, Demyx. The blond slumps over dramatically in his seat. "Nnnngh, I think I'm feeling faint."

"As if," Xigbar mutters. "Guess I better look in to getting some more face masks..."

"Would you guys relax! It's just sinus crud, not even contagious." The statement is punctuated by another obnoxious sniffle, something Axel would have preferred to avoid, but it's either that or suffer the indignity of snot running down in face. _Eugh._

Xemnas spares him a dismissive glance, barely an acknowledgment really. "If No. VIII's condition is so mild he attended the summons, I'm certain such drastic measures will not be necessary. Let us return to the issue at hand."

And with that the dull meeting gets back on track and with the exception of a few dubious looks everyone mostly ignores Axel for its remainder, which suits him just fine. Afterwards, he makes a quick stop by his room to re-stuff his pockets with fresh Kleenex before heading back to the grey area for today's assignment.

As usual, Demyx is already kicked back on one of the long, white couches, strumming out some not-quite-melody on his sitar. The ninth member gives him a double take as he walks past. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Feeling understandably a little short on patience today, Axel cocks an eyebrow at the musician. "Uh, what's it look like? I'm getting my mission."

The unfriendly tone doesn't seem to dissuade Demyx in the slightest. "Dude, what's the matter with you? This is your chance to take the day off, no questions asked—legit get outta work free card—and your blowin' it!"

"What are you going on about; I'm telling you I'm not sick." Axel folds his arms stubbornly, determined to force some clarity into his voice so it at least sounds a little less pathetic. "Besides, a tiny case of the sniffles isn't nearly enough to take me down, got it memorized?"

Demyx looks at him like he maybe grew a second head but before he can try to convince him further a cold shadow slinks into the room. "Stop bothering No. VIII with this nonsense. I see no reason why such a minor ailment should impede anyone from their duties." Saïx's gaze gains a dangerous edge as it bores into Demyx. "Speaking of which, you are supposed to be reporting to Agrabah. I expect you to depart _swiftly_."

"Aw man," Demyx starts to whine, but one death glare from Saïx and he's gathering up his sitar with surprising efficiency.

Axel uses the distraction to make for the mission board—or at least he would have, if not for the two pipsqueaks suddenly barring his path. Axel blinks down at Roxas and Xion. "And just what are you two doing?"

Roxas glares past him stubbornly, eyes narrowed up at Saïx. "If you're gonna send Axel out on a mission today you should pair him with us."

Xion nods eagerly beside the boy, appearing more nervous than angry but no less determined.

Saïx regards them with frosty indifference from behind his clipboard as Axel is forced to sniffle noisily _again_—curse his stupid congestion—before sighing. "I was going to dispatch you on reconnaissance, but seeing how your stealth appears utterly compromised by such a meager inconvenience, I suppose I could reassign you to heart collection as long as it'll ensure today's progress is not a total loss." And boy, didn't the Lunar Diviner just have a way with words—never missing an opportunity to beat someone's self-worth into the dirt.

"This will, of course, double your heart quota." Saïx tacks on over Roxas and Xion exchanging a celebratory fist bump, the rookie pair completely oblivious to the fact that there's no logical reason for Axel's company to affect their heart count, regardless of his state of health, since they're the only ones with keyblades and therefore the only ones capable of collecting hearts to begin with. But the two act as though Axel's inclusion in their mission—so they can supposedly keep an eye on him—is all the victory they need, like they believe the extra work is worth it.

Axel glances between the two of them. "Guys, this is real sweet and all, but I _can_ take care of myself."

Roxas just grins confidently. "Come on, don't be like that, Axel. You looked after me back when I was a zombie, so now I'm gonna return the favor."

"And you're always looking out for us! This is what you said friends are for, right?" And just who taught Xion to be so sneaky, twisting his own words on him like that? Axel certainly refuses to accept responsibility.

"Well, no, not like this exactly," he hedges, because he really doesn't need the two of them tagging along and _protecting_ him. But they just look so darn happy about it… "Fine, guess I'll go with you guys."

And in spite of the powerful feeling Axel imagines welling up in his chest at the thought of his friend's overprotectiveness, he levels Saïx with his best stinkeye. Really, the guy needs to stop taking advantage of the younger nobodies' naiveté already.

Saïx is, unsurprisingly, utterly unrepentant. "You'd best get going if you hope to meet your quota then. Don't want to appear like a bunch of useless slackers, now do you?"

Yeesh. Pretty big talk coming from the guy who just upped everyone's workload instead of giving out one measly sick day. Heaven forbid anyone ever accuse Saïx of compassion.

"Come on, Axel!" Xion calls, already in the middle of pulling up a dark corridor.

"Yeah, don't worry so much," Roxas reassures. "Just leave everything to us."

Axel sighs, trying not to think about what all this must surely be doing to his crumbling reputation. "That seems to be the consensus around here." But he does move to follow them, right after inconspicuously dabbing at his nose with a tissue.

* * *

They step out of the darkness into the colorful, if slightly deranged, forest of Wonderland. Thankfully, it's not one of the most hostile worlds out there and even better, it's infested with plenty of half-pint heartless for the half-pints to dispatch.

And as missions go, this one plays out pretty textbook. In battle Axel mostly keeps to the fringes – and not solely because Roxas and Xion get on his case anytime he tries to be more involved. Besides the fact that any heart he releases will be lost to them, his little buddies have toughened up under Saïx's demanding work regime and are able to take on the small legion of heartless without too much issue. Axel still keeps his chakrams at the ready, poised to slow any stragglers that may attempt an escape or intervene should a heartless get in a lucky shot—just in case.

It's a system that works well for them and by the time they've nearly filled their heart quota Axel's feeling a bit winded and running short on tissues, but he doesn't seem to be slowing down the munchkins too much—even if they constantly stop to ask how he's doing. He's a bit curious how the two amnesiacs managed to latch onto a memory of such potent worry. Supposedly, neither of them have much to go off of from their time before becoming nobodies, yet you'd think he was made of glass with the way they were hovering.

As if summoned by the thought, Roxas glances over his shoulder. "Are you sure you're feeling alright, Axel?"

"You're looking kinda pale." Xion side-eyes him suspiciously.

Axel knows they mean well so he mostly manages to keep his eye roll under control. "Guys, I told you, I'm fine. Got it memorized?"

Despite his reassurances, Roxas and Xion both scowl up at him like they're searching for some visual cue that he's being dishonest with them—either that or they're trying to figure out how to climb on each other's shoulders to reach his forehead and check his temperature.

Which is ridiculous, because he is _fine_. Everything is fine, in fact. So what if swallowing the spare saliva in his mouth awakens what he firmly believes _not _to be the beginnings of a sore throat. The mission is almost over and no one will judge him for curling up someplace dark and quite when they RTC.

He can handle this. Right up until a drop of green goop splatters on the toe of his boot. "Wha— "

The sound of his surprise draws the other two up short. "Axel?"

Well, if something's dripping down… Axel looks up, fully expecting the source of the goop to be some little nuisance of a heartless hovering above in the oversized grasses and poised to step on every last one of his remaining nerves. What he's not expecting is a terrifying nightmare of a flower to be hanging over their heads with green drool dripping down between its massive, sharp teeth. "Um, guys—"

The warning comes too late. Before Roxas and Xion can more than follow Axel's line of sight the giant heartless let's lose a widespread stream of sickly green slime that covers them all from head to toe, which in itself is a horrifying experience. The substance is about the consistency of syrup, clinging to their clothes and making it difficult to pull their feet free from the sticky puddle that's formed around them. It's also startling cold and Axel can feel an uncomfortable chill creeping into his skin even through the sturdy fabric of his coat. He doesn't even want to think about what this gunk must be doing to his hair. "Come on, time to move those butts."

Roxas grimaces. "Yeah, let's not stick around."

"Save the sappy puns for later, please," Xion groans. She and Roxas both wear pinched expressions in reaction to the slime that make Axel thankful he can't actually smell anything at the moment but they do follow his lead, and not a moment too soon. They barely make it clear of the slime puddle before the heartless slams to the ground and roars, summoning a swarm of smaller reinforcements, mostly made up emerald blues. The tiny wind heartless fan out, attacking with miniature whirlwinds.

Roxas bats one of them aside with his keyblade. "What is that thing?"

"Beats me!" Axel's not seen anything quite like this heartless before, though it does bear a slight resemblance to a dire plant with the flower for a face and four vine-like appendages holding the thing up. But unlike the common daisy variety heartless, this monster's head more closely mimics an orchid—granted, an orchid with some pretty intimidating teeth—and its limbs aren't rooted into the ground; instead they act more like the double jointed legs of an insect or maybe a crab with the way they each end in a dangerously sharp point. Not to mention the size of the thing. This heartless must be nearly half the size of a darkside. It fires more slime at them but this time they all have enough heads up to dodge out of the way.

Knowing his long range weapons will be the most ideal for picking off the emerald blues, Axel makes a call, "You two focus on the orchid heartless, I'll keep the small fry off your backs."

"Orchid?" Roxas gives him a familiar blank stare.

Meanwhile, Xion cocks her head to the side curiously. "You know about flowers?"

Axel colors slightly, like it's that weird to know about plants or something. "What, I got it memorized, okay?"

Roxas blinks incredulously. "Yeah… but why?"

"Because it's my thing—Ugh, never mind, just hit the giant flower already before it pukes all over us again!" Axel pointedly ignores Roxas' mumbled 'sounds more like Marluxia's thing' and starts taking out the wind elemental heartless. He's able to do a decent job at keeping the little upside down teacup shaped heartless occupied but that's about the only part of the plan that pans out.

If the flower heartless has eyes Axel certainly can't see 'em, but that doesn't stop the thing from somehow being able to sense and counter just about everything the pipsqueaks throw at it with the two pollen covered feelers extending out from its face. Annoyingly, the heartless even uses them to deflect his chakrams when he tries to distract it. Roxas and Xion have a hard time getting in close with their keyblades but they do manage a few solid hits against its legs before they have to pullback to avoid another slime attack.

They keep this up till most of the emerald blues are cleared out and the orchid heartless begins reacting more viciously but is still very much not on its last legs. At this rate the fight could drag on forever, something Axel figures he probably doesn't have the stamina for today. He also notes that most of the heartless appears to be hidden behind the mass of leaves at its middle that could be concealing any number of dirty tricks, so he chooses to wrap the battle up before it gets the chance.

It's too bad this will likely eat up what's left of his energy reserves but while Roxas and Xion have both mastered some of the baser fire spells, they can't quite pull off the same offensive damage Axel himself is capable of with the element. "Everybody pull back, I'm gonna fry this flower."

He draws from the magic deep at his core more fully than usual, and as soon as Roxas and Xion are a reasonable distance away he snaps his fingers, setting off an explosion of fire right in the heartless' face far more devastating than even he'd expected. "Well, what'da ya know, that gunk it's been spewing must be flammable."

For its part, the heartless shrieks in pain, the sharp keening noise stinging their ears as the colorful head of the heartless tumbles to the ground in a smoking heap.

"Whoa, you burned its face off." Roxas is quick to go investigate with Xion right on his heels. But Axel can't help but notice that while it sure looks dead, the heartless hasn't dissipated into the shadows yet.

A split second later Xion catches on too. "Roxas, wait!"

The heartless surges up, unfurling the mass of leaves around it's body into what vaguely resembles a pair of wings and suddenly Axel has a pretty good idea of how the huge heartless had climbed up so high in the first place. Beneath the wings two new heads have sprouted, completely unmarred by his flames.

"Great, now there's two?" Axel really can't decide if he'd rather just be seeing double because of a fever induced delusion. That attack took more energy out of him than he likes to spend casually, especially when he's already feeling a little low on steam.

Instead of coming at them with more slime the now two headed heartless flaps its leafy wings, creating a powerful whirlwind that snatches up the two closest nobodies. Roxas and Xion are caught in a spinning vortex and probably too busy experiencing what it's like to be on the inside of a blender to pay attention to the heartless opening up both its mouths wide, whether to dish out more slime or simply gobble them up right out of the air Axel doesn't intend to find out. He moves fast, using a dark corridor to drop down right between his friends and all those teeth. First he grabs Xion by the waist before reaching out to snag Roxas' hood and opening up another portal beneath them, just narrowly escaping another barrage of slime.

They come crashing down a short distance away and it's almost all Axel can do to keep from smooshing the smaller nobodies. They all take a moment to recover in a breathless tangle of limbs. "Always… the icky jobs… You guys alive?"

"Ugh, let's not do that again," Xion moans, eyes still swirling from all that spinning.

Roxas is the first to stagger to his feet. "There's gotta be a way to beat this thing."

"But how are we supposed to fight two heads?" Xion frowns.

"Well… regardless of how many… heads it's got, it's still just one heartless. Maybe if we surround it… keep it distracted, we won't have to deal with another focused assault like that. Just need to keep both heads occupied." And Axel is struck with another idea, he may be the master when it comes to his element but that doesn't mean the pipsqueaks can't press the advantage too, especially when the heartless is practically overflowing with the perfect fuel. "And we know it's weak to fire."

Roxas' eyes light up with understanding. "Right, let's torch this thing."

"Now you're talkin' my language." Axel grins viciously. If he had a heart he'd say this particular heartless was really starting to tick him off.

"Great, so we're gonna start a bonfire in the middle of the forest," Xion teases, though there probably is some truth to her wanting not to endanger the surrounding inhabitants and their heartless infested forest more than necessary.

"Come on, admit it, you know setting stuff on fire is fun." A little lightheaded or not, Axel won't accept any other view on the matter.

Xion frowns, likely picking up on how short of breath he still is. "Just try not to overdo it."

"Please, I can handle this. You guys in or not?" Axel will admit (to himself) that he's not doing great by any means and could really fancy a scalding hot shower right about now, but he's not about to let Roxas and Xion handle such a dangerous heartless alone. Just one more push and the orchid heartless will be toast and the mission will finally be over. No turning back now.

"Right." Always more confident with taking action over talking strategy, Roxas darts to the right of the heartless, managing an admirable fira spell at one of its legs. The appendage ends up with a smoking burn and the heartless bends over low to lash out with one of its wings, but Xion attacks from behind with another fireball causing the orchid to twist around and nearly lose its balance. Axel takes the opportunity to charge up his chakrams and send them spinning into both of the flower-like faces. The force is enough to send the heartless tumbling to the ground within easy reach of Roxas and Xion's keyblades.

The heartless writhes under the abuse from the effective weapons before flapping its wings again, this time taking to the air. It stays aloft and tries to nail them with more slime but they keep it harried with fire spells and flaming chakrams. Eventually the creature is forced to land when one of its wings is set aflame where it accidentally got slime on itself.

With the heartless grounded the battle doesn't last much longer and pretty soon they're collecting the last heart of the day. But now that the orchid monster is nothing more than a smoldering pile of ashes fading away into the darkness, Axel finds he's struggling in earnest. His mouth breathing has evolved into a rattling wheeze and the lack of oxygen is starting to make him a little dizzy.

It's a bit worrisome that his body slumps forward without his permission, forcing him to brace his arms against his knees to keep from sprawling out on the ground. This unfortunately gives Xion the opportunity she's been waiting for and before Axel knows what's happening the little nobody has the ungloved back of her palm pressed firmly against his sweaty forehead. In place of an intelligible response, all Axel manages is a startled, "Huh?"

Xion frowns before narrowing her eyes accusingly at him. "You're burning up."

In a blink Roxas dovetails onto the line of scolding, despite probably having even less an idea what "burning up" might mean in regards to illness or even Axel himself, as he always runs hot thanks to his connection with elemental magic. "Axel, you said you were fine!"

And maybe it's not the most appropriate response to defuse the situation, but Axel can't help but laugh, even if it's more of a wheezing cough than the subdued chuckle he was aiming for. It's funny; even when he's practically hunched over they have to crane her faces upwards to look him in the eye and yet they're still trying to take care of _him_. "You guys… worry too much. I'm a tough guy, remember? I can take the heat."

"Yeah, well, at this rate you'll burn yourself out," Roxas scolds, most likely dragging out the joke without conscious effort.

Axel chokes on another laugh. "You sayin' I'm too hot to handle?"

"You're a hot mess, alright," Xion sighs, easily following the series of puns—if he had a heart Axel would be so proud of this moment. "Please tell us next time you're not feeling well. You say friends look out for each other, right?"

Roxas nods. "Yeah, how can Xion and I ever return the favor if you don't trust us with these things?"

This chide is a little harder to blow off. Axel averts his eyes and uncomfortably scratches at the back of his head like he seems to be doing more and more around these kids. "I suppose you got a point there."

When Axel looks back both and Roxas and Xion take him by the hands and pull him upright.

"Come on, let's go before we miss the sunset." Roxas drags them both toward a dark corridor.

Axel has to repress a wince at the thought of going for ice cream. He's feeling just about ready for a face plant into the nearest horizontal surface, preferably a bed but he's not too picky at this point. While the idea of spending the day in bed hadn't seemed conceivable that morning, no worse off than he had been, Axel can certainly hear its siren's call now. Even though he took a backseat for most of the mission he still had to run all round this heartless forsaken forest and he might be feeling that last battle just a smidge. But one look at the twin hopeful gazes directed up at him and Axel knows he doesn't stand a chance. "Right, don't want to forget the icing on the cake."

* * *

Coming through the portal at the top of the clock tower—Axel has never been so glad to skip the stairs – he shivers in the cool breeze, unobstructed up here by all the shorter structures in the lively town. It's not usually a sensation that bothers him but his immune system is just about down for the count, not to mention the dried slime probably isn't helping.

Suddenly the idea of cold ice cream seems entirely unappetizing.

"Man, what a day." Roxas drops down onto the ledge with less care than usual.

"You guys wouldn't have had to take on so many heartless if you hadn't insisted on dragging me along. I would've been fine, you know," Axel can't help but remind them.

"Yeah, that's debatable," Roxas snarks. "Just let it go already, man."

"Besides, this way we got to spend the whole day together," Xion cheerfully adds, passing Roxas his ice cream and something steaming in a mug toward her taller friend.

"Huh," Axel can feel the heat through his gloves. "What's this?"

"It's a home remedy for colds. The lady at the shop gave it to me when I asked if she had anything for someone with a fever." Xion scrunches up her face in thought. "I think she said it had honey in it, not sure what else."

Well, that isn't particularly reassuring but Axel knows he won't be able to ignore the two half-pints staring at him expectantly. Besides the shop attendant probably took pity on the girl, she's still sporting bits of slime in her hair. "Huh, nice of her."

After the first sip he can already feel a pleasing warmth flooding his chest, banishing an unwelcome chill he hadn't realized had taken up residence there. He could definitely confirm the presence of honey but other than some spices most of the beverage's other components were pretty unidentifiable. The taste is interesting, but more importantly there's an immediate effect on his congestion. He can feel his airways opening up as he breathes in the steam through his nose, something he hasn't been able to do for most of the day.

"Well?" Xion eyes him curiously around Roxas.

"It's good." His answer has both his friends smiling and turning back to their ice cream and the view.

And today's view is pretty spectacular. The whole town is set aglow with the russet hues of the twilight hour. The sun may be on its way out but the dying light is at its brightest, rendering the contours of weightless clouds and manmade constructs of this bustling town alike in brilliant contrast.

"Wow! Look at the sky," Xion exclaims.

"Yeah." Roxas takes a big bite out of his ice cream. "Glad we didn't miss it."

Axel hums agreeably. The three of them have seen a lot of sunsets but the sight never seems to lose its allure. Maybe because afterwards they'll all have to sulk back to their bleak castle like fleeting shadows, but for now it's nice, watching the sun fade across the horizon with friends who have his back and waiting for the stars to show. He understands the sentiment Xion shared with them once, of wanting these times to last forever. They won't, of course. If Axel knows anything with any kind of certainty, it's that life changes on the cruelest of whims. What they have here can't last—nothing good ever does—especially for non-beings like themselves. But for Roxas and Xion, his best friends, he's willing to play along as long as he can.

* * *

**END NOTES:** Thanks for reading! Any feedback on what you thought of the story is super appreciated.

As promised, here's a quick glossary for those not super familiar with the 358/2 Days specific terms.

RTC: Return To Castle

Round Room: A meeting place for Organization XIII with 13 chairs positioned around a circular room that can rise and fall in height.

Grey Area: Serves as a kind of lounge for Organization XIII.


End file.
